After clicking the submit button, Tang Shu rubbed her brow as she was somewhat comforted by the last few paintings.
"At least there are a few that look acceptable."
Otherwise, she had been quite disappointed with the current Traditional Chinese Painting Association.
The first round of provincial selection was supposed to announce results before this afternoon, conducted entirely online. Only the top five from each province would send their original works to the Association for storage.
As five o’clock approached, many contestants sat anxiously in front of their computers, rubbing their hands and gradually breaking out in a fine sweat on their foreheads.
"The results are coming, I’m so nervous ying~~~"
"Why does it feel like a lottery draw? I wonder what my score is, and how I ranked in the province?"
"Sigh, I was somewhat confident before, but now I’m completely lost."
In a university dorm in the capital, a kawaii-looking girl mumbled in front of her computer, not knowing where to put her excited hands.
Her roommate, who had been observing the whole time for half an hour, couldn’t help but feel helpless.
"Yang Xiaofen, you’ve been maintaining that pose for a long time, aren’t you tired?"
As five o’clock struck, Yang Fen became more and more panicked, her hands trembling as she refreshed her own page, and the results followed.
Contestant: Yang Fen.
Category: Traditional Chinese Painting
Overall Score: 87.6 points
Provincial Ranking: 4
These bold characters appeared squarely in the center of the screen.
Yang Fen, who had been extremely nervous, read line by line, and when she saw her ranking, she let out a huge sigh of relief and suddenly leaped up excitedly.
"Yay~~~ I made it to the next round of PK!!!"
"You did? What score did you get?"
"87.6 points, fourth in the capital! Am I amazing or what?!"
"Not bad, Comrade Xiaofen, not bad at all!"
Several roommates immediately gathered around and congratulated her, "You truly are the talented girl of our dorm. I knew you could do it; now you can relax, right?"
"Exactly, we should go out and eat to celebrate!"
"Hold on!" Yang Fen hadn’t lost her reason yet, "I haven’t seen the scores and comments from the ten judges yet!"
Now that she knew her ranking and that she was in the next round, of course, as someone obsessed with traditional Chinese painting, she wanted to know where her strengths and weaknesses lay.
"Then go ahead and look, I also want to know what’s good and bad about that painting of yours."
"Wait a minute, let me see—"
Yang Fen clicked to see the details in the Judges’ Area, reading each one and reflecting on her deficiencies in traditional Chinese painting.
"Professor Li is right; my brushwork is indeed impeccable, thankful to have a good teacher..."
After viewing the comments from nine judges in succession, she had more or less understood her pros and cons.
As the cursor hovered over the "Next Page" button, she suddenly lost her courage and paused.
"What’s wrong, come on, click it."
"Yeah, it’s the last judge’s evaluation!"
Yang Fen’s hands began to tremble again, "I... I’m a bit scared—"
"No, why are you scared? You’ve already seen nine of them!"
Her roommates looked at her as if she were an idiot.
"The results and ranking are out, and you care about one judge’s comments? Are you out of your mind?"
The concerned individual shrank back, "emmmm, if you guys had seen the "Give and Take" live stream that day, you would also lack the courage to look."
That person is simply a Great Demon King—